IRTA
- Jerez
1.
Losail
2. Jerez
3. Istanbul
4. Shanghai
5. Le
Mans
6. Mugello
7.
Catalunya
8.
Donington
9. Assen
10. Sachsenring
11. Laguna
Seca
12. Brno
13. Misano
14. Estoril
15. Motegi
16. Phillip Island
17. Sepang
18. Valencia
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News 07/10/07
Round 15. Japan
: Motegi
Seby takes his 6th victory of the
season in the soak Motegi to regain the standings lead.
Seby
dominated the Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi from start to finish to
take his sixth win of the year - and regained the World Championship
lead.
In the soaking conditions at Motegi, the Romanian produced the goods
yet again, eventually crossing the line just over one second ahead of
title rival Skider. This was the first taste of victory for Seby in
almost two months and lifted his moral for the last 3 races of the
season when the title will be decided.
In the early stages Skider managed to put some pressure on Seby but
braking late into a corner made him relegate to third (behind Seby and
Guishermo), at a gap of over one second which Seby could keep until the
finish line. Guishermo did the same mistake as Skider a lap later and
allowed Seby to go in front to take his 6th victory of the season and
his 2nd in wet conditions. Guishermo finished the race in third place,
a little more over 4 seconds behind the winner.
Kawasaki's SFW finished fourth, eight seconds behind Guishermo and a
significant 12 seconds behind race winner Seby = who appears to be
ready for the final shakedown of the season and title decider at
Valencia. A further half a second off SFW was fifth placed DavyB
(Lipton Icetea Ilmor), while Seby's team mate Transalp was sixth with
Tornado-CreW's LuKe seventh.
MotoGP Greece Racing Team's Vouks took one of his worst results of the
season in eighth place, Yamaha England MotoGP's Dolz was ninth and
Oasics NoGrip Racing's Thunder completed the top ten. Finishing 11th
was Yvos (Arkos Froggy's Connection) who appeared to fade in the second
half of the race, whilst DarkBringer managed to bring his bike in 12th
position, his best ever finish. tkk69, Atman and TT98-XL rounded
the top 15.
Seby Lords Of
Shadow (winner, 17:59.221):
"This has been an interesting race and a special victory for me because
I didn't expect to win here. I knew I had the second chance in this
race but I did my job in practice and all I wanted from the race was to
keep focused no matter where I was in race and to be prepared to attack
the victory in case Skider was going to make a mistake.
Before the race, all the time I thought Skider was much faster than me
and I guess this has helped me because I had less stress for the race.
Usually I'm very stressed when I know I'm faster. I did 45.9 in
qualifying on Sunday morning which was a very good lap but I wasn't
completely satisfied because I knew 45.7 was possible and I was afraid
Skider was going to take my pole. As the official qualifying for the
rest of the guys begun I saw Skider pretty slow in the first 2-3 laps.
I was 2nd (behind Vouks) but I had race tyres and still I was in front
of Skider. At the end of the session I was just watching Skider and
hoping he won't do a good lap time. In his last lap I saw him +0.7 from
Vouks so I thought "this pole is in the bag". As he crossed the line,
some +0.45 behind Vouks I was jumping and cheering, not only that I had
the pole but most probably also the Qualifying Award. Since I was
almost 1 second in front of Skider in this qualifying session now the
BMW Award is 99% in the bag because I'm 2.138 in front of him. I know
for others the pole is not so important but for me it's almost as
important as a race victory, making me practice hard so I can get the
pole, no wonder I have 10 poles this season.
Back to the race (which wasn't as spectacular as the qualifying for me).
I didn't have the best of starts and Guishermo was side by side with me
with Skider 0.3 - 0.4 behind us. I didn't manage to escape from
Guishermo so we had a fight for about 2 laps until I passed him on the
back straight, he slipstreamed on me as we both braked so he touched
the grass a bit so his chances for the victory ended right there. BTW,
exactly the same thing has happened to me at Misano, then I
slipstreamed on Guishermo and went wide, he took the victory, now it
was vice versa. At that moment Skider was about 1 second behind me.
I've tried to push hard in the next 3 laps (that's how long the tyres
were going to last) because I really wanted the Hot Lap but I didn't
manage to push to the limit because of stress so Skider and Guishermo
were a little more faster. The difference between me and Skider was
always 1.1 - 1.3 until lap 7.
In the last 3 laps I was very stressed because I knew Skider usually is
faster than me in the last laps. Then I remembered it was a wet race
and my front tyre will last until the end of the race, not like on dry
races when Skider has a clear advantage over me because his front tyre
is much better than mine in the last laps (because I brake with the
keyboard). I did all my best to stay calm and do good laps because I
knew Skider wouldn't catch me in this race and in the last lap when I
saw +1.5 I was very relaxed, I said to myself "this one is in the bag"
so I took it easy in the last 3-4 corners and crossed the line first to
take my 6th victory of the season.
I'm very happy with this victory because it's my first after 2 months
and after a very hard period in which Skider beat me 3 times in a row.
Now we are equal on points in the standings and now matter if I win or
lose the title, I hope we won't see a bigger difference of 5 points at
the end of the season.
I'm sorry for the rest of the rivals but only if both of us (Skid and
I) make a big mistake or fall other guys can win a race and that
doesn't happen very often (it has happend only 2 times in the last 10
races - Mugello and Misano).
I'm very happy with the victory and pole position but not too satisfied
with the total time which was again 5 seconds slower than in practice,
just like at Estoril.
Per total congratulations to Skider, Guishermo and all who raced.
Amazing result by DarkBringer, his best ever position in almost 2 years.
Also GG to darkJr for his race which brought him his first point ever.
See you all in WET (most probably) Phillip Island, good luck to all."
Guishermo
Hurricane Miu Racing Team (3rd, 18:03.462):
"Congratulations to Seby and Skider for that fantastic fight and to
everybody who took part in the race. For me it was quite a good race, I
chose a medium rear tyre because in the first laps I'm always very
stressed and I preferred to secure the first laps, although at the end
I was almost 2,5 seconds slower... In qualifying I saw I could fight
with those two guys, I improved my best lap by 2 tenths with race tyres
and I was really confident... The race started and I didn't make a
really good start, but I didn't lose too much time... At the beginning
I was fighting with Seby and I saw I could follow him, but the lag
again made me make a mistake, in the back straight in my screen I was
in front of Seby but actually I was behind him taking the slipstream,
so when I braked as usual I saw myself running very wide, I lost 1
second and Skider and Vouks overtook me and I thought my race was over.
But I could pass Vouks again and I was behind Skider by 0.8, so I
thought that maybe if I followed him I could have still chances... But
I did two little mistakes which cost me some ground and after that with
worn tyres these two guys just raped me. I hope that in the next races
I can win again, I hate PI but I really like Sepang and Valencia, lets
see what can we do... Bye!"
Yvos Arkos
Froggy's Connection (11th, 18:29.349):
"Bravo Seby, nice win on wet conditions, well done Skider and Guishermo
too.
About my race now: I did a great lap in qual, my personal best by far
(6th overall), and expected a good fight in the race...
Sadly, the race was a nightmare, I had no grip as if I chose a wrong
setup, I was unable to do a good lap, and finished far from my
expectations, a bit ashamed I must say...
3 races remaining now, I hope we won't have to use those wet physics
anymore, I have lost the feeling with them..."
LuKe
Tornado-CreW (7th, 18:14.664):
"GG Seby, Skider and Guishermo for the podium!
My Qualifying went very, very good 3th place is my best position ever
in Qualifing. In the race I had some problems with the internet
connection, it was a bit laggy, and in the end of the race, my tyres
were red. I can not do the pace which I have done in Qual.
Great race to everyone, see you all at Phillip Island"
Atman Asica
Racing Team (14th, 18:35.470):
"To my race: On start Mircea, DNStouron and I. In first corner battle
between me and DNStouron was decided, because he made a mistake, went
on dirt and I took an advantage of 2-3 seconds, which I managed to hold
till last lap. Mircea was 1sec per lap faster than me and in 7th lap
the gap was 6 sec. After that he made a highside and I overtook him. In
last 2 laps I defended my first position and it was very hard for me.
Also in last lap DNStouron made big crash.
It was a nice race, full of emotions. For me big surprise is
Darkbringer. About results in qualify, best lap in race and also
standings - very good.
24th place with 41points is very nice for me."
rezist Rezist
Racing Yamaha Team (17th, 18:37.686):
"Whoa! My qualifying result was very good, but that was a real cracker
of a lap, the best one I've done so far! When I saw .971 I thought,
hmmm before I noticed it was actually a 1:48.971!
I had a sad race following TT98 by 1.5 secs the whole race. I made too
many errors meaning I couldn't catch him... even when he made an error,
I thought 'here's my chance' and still stuffed it up. Congratulations
to Seby for again regaining the championship lead!
This must be the closest ever season in terms of the championship...
great stuff!
See you all at (I hope) a sunny Phillip Island!"
In the Rider Standings, Seby took the lead from Skider after taking his
6th victory of the season in wet Motegi. They are both equal on points,
leading the standings with 372 each. Vouks remains 3rd with 240 points,
a massive 132 points behind the leading pair. SFW is 4th with 226
points, 14 points behind Vouks. Guishermo completes the top 5 with 215
points.
Lords Of Shadow extended their lead at the top of the Team Standings to
19 points over Oasics NoGrip Racing with a total of 595 points. MotoGP
Greece Racing Team is a massive 296 points behind the leading team
while Hurricane Miu Racing and Nitram Racing complete the top 5.
Yamaha leads the Constructors' Standings by 20 points over Suzuki with
three races to go. Moriwaki is 3rd, a massive 162 points behind Yamaha
with Kawasaki and Honda 4th and 5th.
In the Qualifying Award, Seby has extended his lead after another pole
position (his 10th of the season) to 2.138 over Skider. Transalp is
3rd, 24.785 behind the leader. Yvos and Dolz complete the top 5.
In the Hot Lap Award Skider extended his lead to 1.110 over Seby after
his 8th Hot Lap of the season. Thunder is third, 14.252 seconds behind
Skider. Transalp and Dolz complete the top5.
After the victory in Motegi Seby took the lead from Skider in the Total
Time Award and the distance between them is now only 0.388. Thunder
lies third, more than three minutes behind the leading pair. Dolz and
Yvos complete the top 5.
Join us in three
week's time for the MotoGP500online Australian GP at Phillip Island.
Report by Seby
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